Random thought of the day

Right now I am sitting here and prepping a graduation anniversary email for our alum. We are sending a special email and video out to everyone who is celebrating an anniversary from 5 years on in 5 year incriments. My oldest....is the 75th anniversary. We only send to people we have email addresses for. Which means, on of our 1934 graduates is on the email list.

1. Can you imagine someone who is at least 95 years old having an email address?
2. Can you imagine this being the 75th year you have been out of college?

I'm struggling with the fact that this May marks my 7th year out of college. I can't imagine celebrating my 75th year! Wow! Go Dawgs!

Senior prank

After Christmas, parking services started a new program for students to rent bikes on campus. It was a great idea, in theory, but bikes showing up in the most random places around town, and many of them were being damaged. The bike program has slowed down on campus, but a few of them are stil out there.

Yesterday, while at a check presentation on the top floor of Swalm, someone pointed out the roof of the library. There's that missing bike # 37!!!! What silly student left that there????

I will have to post pictures later once I upload them from my phone. One of my coworker's husbands had to climb on the roof to get it down. Great prank, class of 2009! (Or whoever you are!)

A weekend family food affair….

Last weekend, half of my family came to town for the annual spring homecoming festivities. This was the first time my parents, brother, and sister-in-law have come to visit since I have gotten settled. Since we anticipated a large crowd over the weekend, I decided to plan out as many meals as possible to have at home. Here are some recipes from the weekend:

Friday night

Yummy Meatloaf
Served with: Mashed potatoes, asparagus, and rolls.
Dessert: Pineapple Pie….which ensued the following conversation

Dad: Sher Sher, this pie is really good!
Me: Thanks, dad. It was Mamaw Speed’s recipe.
Dad: Really?
Me: Yeah, mom gave it to me last summer.
Dad: (turning to mom on the couch) How come in 34 years you have never made this for me?
Mom: I have made it before! You just don’t remember….
Dad: I would have remembered this pie. It’s really good!

So, an instant family favorite! It’s a great pie to freeze and keep just in case company is coming over! Good summer treat! And, I make it with all fat free or low fat ingredients, so it’s really not bad for you!!!

MOVING ON…..

Saturday morning

PULL APART CAKE

3/4 c. chopped pecans
3 tubes biscuits
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. sugar
1 stick butter
1 c. brown sugar

Spread pecans evenly on the bottom of Bundt pan. Cut each biscuit into 6 to 8 pieces. Roll each piece in cinnamon/sugar mixture. Toss pieces on top of pecans. Melt butter and stir in brown sugar. Pour over the pieces. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. While still warm turn upside down on cake plates.

Served with pigs in a blanket and lots of coffee!

Saturday Lunch – At the famous barbeque joint – The Little Dooey

Saturday Night – Grilled polish sausage with sautéed onions and bell peppers, baked beans and chips. (Fast, easy, and delicious!!!!)

Sunday Breakfast
Mary B’s frozen biscuits (SOOOOOOOOOOOO good! You can get them at Kroger!)
Served with: bacon, scrambled eggs, grapes and more coffee!!!!

Fun weekend! Though the weekend was really about homecoming, baseball and the new video board, having good food just made it even better!

Happy cooking!

I just love new artists...

She's up for several Dove awards, is all about the Jesus, and has a very Sara Bareilles style of music. I like her a lot! Check out Francesca Battistelli!

Attack of the Birds Part One: Stay Away From My Geraniums....

Yesterday, while watering my flowers, I discovered a suprise in one of my geranium hanging plants. It was a bird's nest with little blue eggs. I thought I heard something flying around last week when I was watering, but thought it might just be a bee or something. Nope...it was a bird...building a nest and laying eggs in my beautiful flowers.

Now, normally I am very much against killing birds by knocking down nests. I don't care if they are on my porch or above my door...but I really wasn't happy about the hanging plants. So, I did what I knew was wrong in the eyes of PETA, and I removed the nest and placed it on a ledge above where the plant was hanging. I know birds don't come back when they smell humans on their stuff.

Well, then I moved on to my next plant. Low and behold, another nest! No eggs in this one though. So, I removed the nest and threw it on the ground. NOT IN MY GERANIUMS, BIRDS! And finally, there was the beginning of another nest in my third hanging basket. Really? Can you please lay off my plants???? No wonder they have been looking a little puny! So all the nests were removed.

This morning I woke up to see that the little nest with the eggs had fallen on the ground. Now I really killed them. It wasn't in a secure enough location, and the wind must have blown it off. Oh well! Sorry birds! But...seriously...not in my geraniums!

After work today I decided to check on the progress of my plants. Before I went outside, I noticed a bird sitting in my window above my door....ready to attack. Must have been the mother of the babies I killed. Because it just sat there, staring at me and Josephine, trying to get in. Josephine, being the predator she is, scared it off. But not before a show! Luckily, we all servived and all is well. Birds, feel free to lay nests on the ledge of my porch, above my front door, or anyway in a tree. However, STAY AWAY FROM MY GERANIUMS!

Next episode.....The pigeons come to town!

Love is...ON the air!

Okay, let's say it all together now...."Awwwwwww!!!!"

It's finally here!!!!

For those who love the Bulldogs, you are probably very familiar with Super Bulldog Weekend, our annual spring homecoming. Yes, we love our team so much that we can't just have one homecoming a year. We have to have two!!!!

Each April, alumni, students, friends and family come home to Bullyville to celebrate the university we love so much. It has been seven years since I attended Super Bulldog Weekend, and I'm so glad I get to be right in the middle of all the festivities again!

My weekend will be full of extra fun this year because my parents, brother, and sister-in-law are joining me for the event. Since my mom, brother, and sister-in-law are fellow alumni, it will be a time for us to not only come together as a family, but also enjoy being at the university that taught us so much.

So, what are our plans for the weekend?????

Friday night - Dinner and hanging out at my house. Maybe a game of horseshoes in the backyard if we can get it in before dark.

Saturday - Morning will be spent strolling around campus and town at various events including the Cotton District Arts Festival. Afternoon will be at Dudy Noble for the Diamond Dawgs vs. the KY Wildcats. Early evening will be at Scott Field for the Maroon and White spring scrimmage. Home to cookout and probably crash from all the excitement!

Sunday - Lazy breakfast around the house before the fam heads back to The Compound.

I am really excited about this weekend. We have been planning it for a while, and Lauren and I talked several times over the week to plan out the menu and activities. Hopefully everyone can keep up! But first, before the fun can begin...gotta make it through the work day which includes a luncheon and meeting with our board of directors. It may be SBW, but those of us who work here still have to work!

GO DAWGS!!!!

Easter Adventures

For the first time in like 7 years I was actually home for Easter. Yeah! That's because I live so close now! Since some of the family had Good Friday off, Lynn, Dan, Will and I went to the zoo. Will loves visiting all the animals, especially the monkeys. We also rode the zoo train, which, in Will's words, was "real fun."

Saturday we did our Easter festivities of the big meal, family time and dying and hunting Easter eggs. This was Will's first time to dye eggs, and he really enjoyed it! In fact, he liked dying eggs so much that he dyed his hands as well.

After the egg dying, Will went on his second Easter egg hunt. (He was walking last year, and did "hunt," though I think Uncle Joey found most of the eggs for Will.) This year it was much more fun and involved. And he was so cute! We would say: "Will, do you see any eggs?" And he would reply: "Hmmmmm....(with his pointer finger on his chin). There's one!" He's a card!

Sunday morning I woke up early so I could drive back to my home church for the service. However, I woke up to a voicemail on my muted phone that my alarm went off in the middle of the night, and they were dispatching the police to my house. It was the glass breakage alarm. YEAH! I called the police department, and the report said it was a false alarm. I still gathered all my stuff in a hurry to get home as fast as possible.

Two and a half hours later I discovered two huge chunks of asphalt in my back yard, and a chipped/scratched bay window. My theory is that some punk kids from the movie theater were trying to be mean and throw rocks at windows. My neighbor had a chunk in her yard as well.

Anyway, I ended up missing church because I had to wait on the police to come back and fill out another report. Not the best Easter Sunday ever, but at least I got to enjoy lunch and dinner with my friends from church. All was not lost, and I was very, very, very thankful that my house was not broken in to.

For pictures of the fun times with the family, visit my photo page. Enjoy a few videos of my adorable nephew below.

Here comes Peter Cottontail....

For Easter this weekend I wanted to make a special cake for the family. The idea was to do a lemon bunny cake, and it turned out way better than I planned, thanks to my mom's directions on how to carve and decorate.

It's a very simple process, and a lot of fun to do with kids!

Ingredients:
1 box of cake mix and ingredients according to box.
1 can of frosting
jelly beans
coconut (about 1-2 cups)
food coloring
sprinkles

Step One: The basic cake
Bake cake mix of choice according to box in two 8-inch round pans.
After finished baking, let cool in pan for about 15 minutes, then dump cakes on large tray to completely cool.

Step Two: The carving
With a bread knife, carve two oval-type shapes off of each side of one cake round. This will form two ears and a bowtie. Arrange ears and bowtie around the other cake round.

Step Three: Decorating
Cover cake completely with thin layer of icing. When finished, add a thicker layer on top of the ears and face.
Use food coloring to dye remaining icing to make the bowtie another color. Can use sprinkles or jelly beans to decorate bowtie.
Sprinkle coconut over ears and face to give the appearance of fur. If it doesn't stick, press down slightly into the icing.
Take one tiny, tiny drop of red food coloring and drop it in a ziplock bag of coconut. This will dye the coconut pink for the center of the ears. If it is too red, add more coconut and disperse. Lay pink coconut in the middle of each ear.
Use jelly beans to make eyes, a mouth, and whiskers on the face. Licorice can also be used in lieu of jelly beans for whiskers.

Step Four: Eat
Amaze all of your friends and family with your adorable bunny cake and enjoy eating!

Welcome to the Wide World of Blogs!

Cold weather out of the ordinary is far worse than months and months of cold weather, I think. When you go outside and expect temperatures in the upper 60's and lower 70's, but find it to be in the mid to lower-40's, it really catches you off guard. That's something you expect in January or February in the South, but not in April.

The weather is not what this new blog is going to be about. The new blog will be about my new adventures in a somewhat-new town with a new job and a new house and a new church...maybe I should have put new in the title. This blog is about starting over....but in a place that is cram full of memories and pictures of another time and another me.

A little over three months ago I picked up my life and headed back east to my college town. I landed the job of a lifetime doing PR & marketing for the university and alma mater that has always and forever held my devotion. It was a good move for me, and the Lord has blessed me beyond comprehension since I told that bold step outward. I know the road is long and unknown ahead, but I am very excited about where I am and where I might be going.

I do have to give a shout out for the title of this blog. I totally ripped it from the title of a song by Sarah Johns. Check her out on MySpace or iTunes. I love that song!!!

Welcome to my new blog! Since my life is far less complicated than it was in the big city, I have more time and long to get back to writing again. (As you can see, above, Josephine is totally supportive of this new venture!) Here you will read my random and insignificant musings about life in a small town. Hope you enjoy!!!

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Eph. 3:20-21